Geneva: Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive of Renault SA, said the French carmaker is starting to make money in India, powered by demand for its compact car Kwid.

The popularity of the Kwid in such an extremely competitive market is a strong indication that the model will do well in other emerging markets as well, Ghosn, 62, said in an interview to Autocar India magazine.

Ghosn is relinquishing the chief executive’s role at Nissan Motor Co. Ltd in April after rescuing the company from near-collapse. Considered one of the most accomplished executives in the auto industry, he will hand over day-to-day control of Nissan to Hiroto Saikawa.

Ghosn, who will remain chairman of Nissan, is stepping aside to focus on Mitsubishi Motors Corp. As chairman of Mitsubishi Motors, Ghosn is attempting to turn around the carmaker and strengthen its alliance with Renault and Nissan.

Mitsubishi, Ghosn said, can’t ignore a big market like India but in the short term the company has to prioritize what it wants to do first given the many opportunities.

“So I cannot tell you in what time frame this will (big push in India) happen but without any doubt, this is a very big market for future for any carmaker and for Mitsubishi in particular,” Ghosn said.

“You can bring copy and paste platform and product but that has to be a niche product. Don’t expect big volume coming out of it. If you want big volume in India and contribute to the core market, you will have to really tailor it, even the platform,” he added.